Using SharePoint as a File Share

So far, you have used the web client to view and open documents. But SharePoint can display its information just like any file share, using either the traditional file share (for example F:) or by your defining a web folder. The main difference between these two options is that file shares only allow you to use one character for this share, while web folders allow you to type a name, including blank spaces. This is much easier to read and understand, but not all programs understand how to use a web folder. You have to test this to see whether web folders work in your environment. All recent MS Office products understand web folders.

To create a traditional file share link to a document library, you do follow the process in the next Try It Out.

Try It Out Create a File Share Link to a Document Library

1. Assume that you have a document library named Shared Documents in the team site http://srv1/sitedirectory/it. You want to access that library using the F: disk label. Start Windows Explorer.

2. Click Tools Map Network Drive.

3. Set the Drive = F.

4. Enter the following address:

         \\srv1\sitedirectory\it\shared documents 

Now you will find F: listed in Window Explorer and any program that has an Open and Save feature. Note that this will only work directly for Windows XP clients; if you do this on a Windows 2003 server, including the SharePoint server itself, it will fail. The reason is that Windows XP has a service running that is needed for this functionality, while Windows 2003 does not.

Just open the Start Administrative Tools Services, locate the service WebClient, open its properties, and switch to Manual or Automatic, click Apply to activate the setting, and finally click Start.

The second method is to use web folders. This works the same way, except that you can have a longer and better description of what the link is pointing to. Follow the steps in the Try It Out below to create the web folder.

Important 

SharePoint 2007 has a new feature that opens a document library in a temporary Windows Explorer view directly. Open any document library, click Actions Open with Windows Explorer. The instructions below are for creating a permanent Explorer view for a library.

Try It Out Create a Web Folder to a Document Library

Assuming that you are using the same document library and team site as in the last Try It Out, do this:

1. Start Windows Explorer.

2. Click Tools Map Network Drive.

3. Click Sign up for online storage or connect to a network server. This link is on the same page as the one used in step 4 in the previous set of steps.

4. The Add Network Place Wizard will start up. Click Next. On the next page, make sure that "Choose another network location" is selected, and click Next again.

5. Type the following network address:

            http://srv1/sitedirectory/it/shared documents 

6. Type a descriptive name for the web folder, such as Shared Documents on IT, then click Next.

7. Click Finish. Your new web folder is now created.

8. Test it: Start MS Word, click the Office button, select Open, and select My Network Places, and your new web folder should be listed. Click on it and you will see all Word files in the folder.

Both the traditional disk label and the newer web folders can be used directly from Windows Explorer (for example, to copy files from the file system into a SharePoint document library or to copy files from one library to another).

Important 

Note that when you copy or move files using web folders or disk labels, only the latest version of the document is copied or moved, not previous versions. However, if you open and update files using the web folders or disk labels, the version history is updated, exactly as when using the web client interface.

SharePoint will automatically create web folders for any document library that you have stored documents in. They are seldom cleverly named, so to give them better names or just check where they point to, right-click on the web folder and select Properties. There, you will see the URL address, and you can enter another name for the link.

For each document library, there is a system folder named Forms that contains .aspx files for default views, the default document template, and some specific web forms. It also contains all custom views created by users. When using Windows Explorer you will see this Forms folder. Normally, users will not be able to delete or modify any of its files, but just to be safe, you should instruct your users to avoid changing anything in that folder or deleting that folder itself.